1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording head and a method of carrying out recording with the use of the same, both of which are suitable for use with image processors, electronic typewriters, facsimile machines, various kinds of display boards and the like.
2. Related Background Art
A heat sensitive transfer type recording method has been chiefly employed in the field of information processing in recent years. This recording method utilizes an inked film the substrate of which is coated with heat fusible ink, and comprises the steps of: heating the inked film in the form of an image pattern by means of a recording head; and transferring the thus-fused ink onto a recording medium such as copying paper. By utilizing the method, the size and weight of the apparatus employed can be reduced and recording can be effected on ordinary paper.
However, the aforementioned heat sensitive transfer type recording method involves problems in that, since an inked film which has been used only once must be thrown away, the running cost is high and the disposal of the used inked film becomes a nuisance.
In order to solve the above-described problem, it is well known that a recording head such as that shown, for example, in FIG. 1 is used to effect heat sensitive recording. In this method, a heating element 4 is disposed on a recording head indicated generally at 1, and the heating element 4 has an ink passage hole through which ink 3 is allowed to pass. This proposal has been disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 118493/1984, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 225990/1984, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 4093/1985, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 464262/1985 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 206677/1985.
In the case of a conventional type of recording head 1, when the heating element 4 is heated after a housing 2 has been charged with the semisolid ink 3, the ink 3 near the heating element 4 is softened and its viscosity is lowered, so that it may pass through the ink passage hole 5. Accordingly, if a plurality of the ink passage holes 5 are formed in the shape of an array and a signal is applied to the heating elements 4 associated with the respective ink passage holes 5 so that the elements 4 may be selectively heated, a desired ink image can be recorded on a recording sheet 9 in a transferred manner.
Since the aforesaid method needs no inked film, the running cost can be reduced. In addition, the method is advantageous in that, since the ink 3 can be directly heated without the need to interpose the film between the head 1 and the sheet 9, the efficiency of the thermal energy is superior.
In the above-described recording method, however, the ink passage hole 5 is disposed in contact with the recording sheet 9, and in this state the former is caused to slide over the latter. In consequence, there is a possibility of the thus-recorded image suffering from the phenomenon of ink tailing, ink overlapping or the like.